Power consumption is a substantial factor in the design of most electronic systems. Generally, a system that consumes a small amount of power will generate less heat than a system that consumes a large amount of power. High-power systems therefore require more robust heat dissipation techniques than low-power systems. Such a technique often increases the cost and complexity of the system in which it is used, while also decreasing the efficiency of the system.
Power consumption is of particular concern in locally-powered systems such as battery-powered laptop or hand-held computing devices. The functionality of these devices relies greatly on their ability to function for extended periods using a single mobile power source. Consequently, a decrease in the power consumption of these devices leads to a direct increase in their functionality.
According to current Ethernet protocols under the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.3 standard, two communicating devices may occasionally transition between “link connect” and “link disconnect” states. When re-connecting, the devices establish an Ethernet link at a highest link speed supported by each device. However, since power consumption increases with link speed, the power consumption resulting from these protocols is often unacceptable.